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Credit: Matt West

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, right, at New England Patriots mini camp at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, June 18, 2014.

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As if the Patriots-Jets rivalry needed an excuse to get any weirder, right?

Browns coach Mike Pettine, who was the Jets defensive coordinator from 2009-12, made an interesting allegation today in a Sports Illustrated story. He claimed Tom Brady once bragged to former Jets outside linebackers coach Mike Smith at Wes Welker's wedding that the Patriots "may or may not have had possession" of some Jets defensive playbooks.

Pettine also told Sports Illustrated that Jets coach Rex Ryan gave a playbook to Alabama coach Nick Saban, who is very close with Bill Belichick.

They're some loose allegations, of course, particularly coming from third-hand information, and there's a ton of presumption involved from Pettine.

Either way, Belichick was asked today if the Patriots have ever been in possession of a Jets playbook.

"Go talk to Mike Pettine," Belichick replied. "I don’t know."

Ryan just answered questions from the New York media, according to Kimberley Martin of Newsday, and he didn't sound overly pleased about Pettine's attention-grabbing remarks.

"One thing I know for a fact, number one, it's disrespectful to New England," Ryan said.

Ryan then called it "ridiculous" multiple times, according to Martin, and added, "Everyone needs to talk to Mike Pettine because he's got all the answers. ... I don't understand what he's trying to gain by it."

The University of Alabama has also joined the party against Pettine.

"The playbook Rex Ryan gave coach Saban is in his office," an Alabama spokesman told Fox 6 in Birmingham, Ala. "Coach Saban didn't send the playbook to anyone and wouldn't do so under any circumstances."